i recently blew my engine with a blown tip. I had my turbo rebuilt 2000miles previously. When i had the engine sorted i put it all back together and checked the turbo by looking through th eVband hole and into the blades. I looked carefully with a tourch and it all looked sound. then recently my mate said it could have still caused some damage that wasnt noticable, apparently there are parts of the blade that cant be seen (although i thought i could see everything).

Now im a bit worried as ive ran the engine in and getting it mapped next week. What is the truth with this, does the turbo case need to come off to fully inspect or is a visual inspection ok?

Its a GT40 blowzilla turbo with a 3" Vband exahust housing.

any help or advice would be appreciated

 

Just pull off the exhaust housing and inspect the blades more closely. You can take off your intercooler piping to the turbo and all lines and fittings, then undo the bolts to the exhaust housing and take the whole front of the turbo off and you'll be able to see everything. Just be gentle pulling it off. Hope this helps. Cheers

Dee

 

do i not need to take the turbo and manifold right off then? I noticed about 5 bolts holding the exhaust housing on but it looked like the manifold was in the way.

 

you're probably fine if you didn't see anything. even when there is some damage, the turbo is usually reusable. bb rebuilds are $$

 

but what about power, i thought that even a little damage would reduce the efficency of the turbo. Thats a guess mind, i dont know how tight the tolerences are on these things.

 

Yes, it would reduce the efficiency, but not by terribly much. Of course that all depeneds on how much damage there is. I would say just to be safe, take it off and look at it more closely. It couldn't hurt. Also check for shaft play in and out and up and down. There should be very minimal play if any.

Dee

 

its not very smart to run a damaged turbo. if it puts it out of balance its only a matter of time before it grenades

 

+1 why run at non-optimal levels right?

 

took the air filter off today and There isnt any shaft play in the wheel and it runs very smoothly but i would like to take the housing off to check anyway but im not sure of the best route. Whether to take thge manifold off with it and disconnect off the car or to try and struggle taking the case off with the turbo still attatched to the car

 

You might as well just pull off the manifold and all. Probably a little easier to get to all of the bolts that way.